Flamingos are no longer safe as starving Venezuelans turn to desperate measures in order to feed themselves. (Elbilluyo)

TODAY VENEZUELA – Starving Venezuelans are eating flamingos: As 21st Socialism continues to leave the Venezuelan economy in utter ruins, undernourished citizens who have grown tired of looking for food in garbage bins are seeking alternative ways of feeding themselves.

According to webzine Reportero 24, desperate Venezuelans have decided to hunt exotic animals in primitive ways in order to obtain their meat:

Last November, Luis Sibira, a biology student, found the bloody remains of eight pink flamingos in the mud near the Las Peonías lagoon in eastern Venezuela. Their breasts and torsos had been cut to pieces, their heads had been left to rot and their colorful feathers were spread across the dirt.

Researchers from Zulia University declared that rare species of birds protected under the law have become the most recent victims of Venezuela’s worsening economic crisis.

Photographs taken at the garbage dumps in the state of Zulia have also revealed shocking images: “dogs, cats, donkeys, horses, and pigeons are being dismembered since last year. Their skinned carcasses show clear signs of having been eaten.”

Such reports, however, are not new. In May, 2016, Ramón Muchacho, mayor of the Caracas district of Chacao, stated that men and women are killing animals for their meat in the streets of Venezuela’s capital. These include cats, dogs, and pigeons. According to a survey on the country’s quality of life published by several NGO’s and three prestigious national universities, Venezuelans’ protein intake fell by 30% in two years.

According to the survey, 93.3% of Venezuelan households stated that their income did not suffice to buy basic food products. In February, a seven-month old baby died of severe malnutrition. While 3.9% of the Venezuelan population suffers from malnutrition, 9.6 million Venezuelans state that they can only afford to eat twice per day.

In 2016, 72.7% of Venezuelans reported that they lost weight due to the difficulty of finding basic food items in stores. The poorest citizens lost the most weight on average, the survey found.

According to newspaper El Colombiano, Venezuelan schoolchildren are regularly missing class due to hunger.

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